


His Screams are Silenced by Stars

by TheRoomWhereItHappened347



Category: Boku no Hero Academia, My Hero Academia
Genre: Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead Adopts Shinsou Hitoshi, Angst, Asshole Bakugou Katsuki, Bad Parent Inko Midoriya, Bully Bakugou Katsuki, Depressed Izuku Midoriya, Fluff, Gen, Iida Tenya & Midoriya Izuku Friendship, Midoriya Izuku & Shinsou Hitoshi Friendship, Midoriya Izuku & Uraraka Ochako Friendship, Midoriya Izuku Has One for All Quirk, Midoriya Izuku Overthinks, Minor Injuries, Neglect, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Shinsou Hitoshi Replaces Mineta Minoru, Shinsou Hitoshi is in Class 1-A, Suicidal Izuku Midoriya, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, Threats, Yagi Toshinori | All Might is Supportive, Yagi Toshinori | All Might is a Good Teacher, meaning he’s not as oblivious as in the anime, suicide baiting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:54:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22739929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRoomWhereItHappened347/pseuds/TheRoomWhereItHappened347
Summary: Pushed to the brink and desperate for escape, Izuku takes someone’s advice and attempts to take a swan dive off of a roof.Will an encounter with underground hero Eraserhead change everything?(Formerly titled ‘A Little Broken but I’m Fine’).
Relationships: None
Comments: 70
Kudos: 797





	1. I ask for snuggles but receive struggles

**Author's Note:**

> 1) Original post date: 15/02/2020.  
> Hi, I’m back with this! The task to edit this overwhelmed me originally and I didn’t touch this document until today! 
> 
> 2) The biggest edit is no ships and a changed title and there’s a reason for this: I don’t (romantically) ship anyone in MHA anymore. Same goes for any other MHA fics I write.  
> The title changed ‘cause I said so.
> 
> 3) Don’t like don’t hate in comments. Simple. Constructive criticism is vastly different to hate, so please be aware of this!
> 
> 4) After being humbled by the Haikyuu!! fandom and having a transformation in my writing style, I will be taking time to edit this over Xmas. It was overdue anyway. 
> 
> 5) Enjoy the fic and leave a kudos and comment! 
> 
> (P.s: thank you for the people who waited patiently for this fic to be updated for the past few months and kept it bookmarked!)

At the age of 7, Izuku’s life was...complicated to describe. 

He wasn’t sure why people treated him this way: shunned by classmates and teachers alike, ignored by his mother and abandoned by his father and closest friend.  
Was it because of him being quirkless? Maybe because 80% of society had a quirk? Probably -and as he grew up that became a ‘definitely’- and either way, Midoriya was part of the 20% that were quirkless and it wasn’t like anything would change. Not with the stereotypes developed a hundred-or-so years ago.

At one point his life did have a positive outlook, with loving parents and wide support system, but then he was declared quirkless by the doctor and a lot of things changed.

For one, there went a lot of chances of him becoming a hero, especially the number 1 hero. 

Then there was the fact Kaachan stopped looking at him as a best friend and more of the dirt beneath his shoe, a distraction in his path to becoming a hero. 

His father left and that took its toll on his mother almost immediately, but she stayed strong for a good while so Izuku could naïvely think everything was alright. 

However one night she received a letter from her husband -his now non-existent ‘father’- and she broke, letting Izuku see behind her mask of fake smiles and lies. Afterwards though...she stopped caring about him entirely. 

At first it was ignorance at small things such as (limited) achievements at school and things he’d made for her, but it soon escalated to the point where she wouldn’t worry about his injuries from Kaachan and his well-being. 

Fair enough, she didn’t want a useless being for a son.  
The rules were he would have to earn his keep; in order for him to even be allowed to make his food, he would have to do all of his chores and homework, so most of his time was taken out by that. 

Bandages, burn cream and other medical supplies were bought by himself, no exceptions. Not in a million years would she pay for the hospital, even if it was a life threatening wound. 

The once kind woman who sheltered him from the world now ignored him or spat cruel words in place of what would’ve been comforting words. 

School was another issue entirely. 

As soon as he and Kaachan moved to the same school, Kaachan -‘Bakugou, you need to remember this Izuku, you useless boy’- established his dominance and made sure Izuku was the hated one, the weird quirkless kid. 

The one who everyone picked on, who was ignored by the teachers, who was constantly bullied, excluded and not allowed a place anywhere. 

In another life, Izuku could’ve been strong enough to withstand the cruel taunts and beatings but with the combined words of fellow students and his mother combined with his childhood friend...that was enough to break him.

He’d broken halfway through the second year, and the following few months went by in a haze of pain, exhaustion and overall fatigue. 

His 3rd year was his worst, everyone aware of Izuku, the quirkless boy who was shunned by everyone in school.

Breaking out of his trance, he realised the teacher was talking about future schooling and where others would be going. 

“You wanted to go to UA too, right Midoriya?” The teacher said in a monotone voice. That’s it. They knew, now he would die at the hands of Bakugou and the merciless stares of others. 

The whole class burst out laughing, with Bakugou frozen in a fit of rage.

“You want to go to UA? You’re quirkless, what could you do?” Someone laughed.

“W-well they got r-rid of that rule s-so I have a c-chance to get through to General S-studies at least.” 

Another reason his mother hated him: his stuttering. He couldn’t help it though, not with being constantly cut off by Bakugou in school and her at home. 

“Listen up Deku! I’m the only one in this school to get through to UA and you dare challenge me!” Bakugou roared, explosions sparking in his hands as he almost cracked the desk. 

“I-I’m not challenging you at all Kaachan!” Dammit, he slipped. “You see...I’ve always wanted to become a hero...it’s always been my dream-” 

“Shut up you worthless-!” 

“Bakugou, sit down and calm down. You can continue whatever conversation you’re having at the end of the day.” He was yelling -practically threatening- Izuku and the teacher decided to ignore that! Blatant discrimination, but what the hell could he do? 

More monotonous teaching happened, but he ignored it all, his head buzzing with negative thoughts and shame at being called out like that. 

‘You should’ve put down Hitaka or somewhere else as your option, now look what you’ve done! You’re the laughing stock again and it’s all your fault Izuku!’ The voice in his head hissed. ‘You’ve got no chance of getting into UA anyway, they only take top students and what are you? A twig with average brain cells- certainly not enough to stop you getting hit.’ 

He couldn’t argue with that.

“Pack up and have a good weekend,” the teacher yawned as he zipped up his bag, leaving the classroom soon after. 

Rushing to get out and avoid a confrontation, he’d almost finished when Bakugou picked up his notebook. 

“Hero Analysis for the Future? Pathetic,” he snarled, skimming through the pages with his lackeys, his eye twitching. 

“Hey! G-give it back!” Izuku said weakly, tempted to grab it back but afraid of another star-shaped scar on his shoulder. 

“Bakugou, look! There’s even a page about you!” One of his lackeys exclaimed, pointing at said page. 

“What the hell are you Deku? A stalker?” Bakugou growled as he used his explosions to blow up the book and throwing it out the window. 

“No!” He yelled, scrambling over to the window only to see his precious notebook floating in the koi pond. 

“Do yourself a favour Deku, don’t try and attempt the UA entrance exam. You’ll barely get past the first round,” Bakugou smirked as he released a decent-sized explosion where he gripped Izuku’s shoulder, the former gritting his teeth at the flash of pain.

“You wouldn’t know that,” Izuku mumbled as he rubbed his burnt shoulder, flinching as Kaachan turned around. 

“What was that nerd?” 

“N-nothing Kaachan!” Same goddamn habit. He needed to grow out of it, he wasn’t 5 anymore!

“Tch. So annoying.” Bakugou glared at him before leaving the classroom, but not before one of his lackeys said the thing that would change the rest of his life. 

“Do everyone a favour and take a swan dive off the roof, maybe you’ll get a quirk in the next life.” The lackey laughed, following Bakugou out of the empty classroom.  
Izuku froze, not able to move or speak as the phrase rebounded in his head. 

‘Take a swan dive off the roof...’ 

Maybe...

Maybe he should? 

It’s not as if anyone wants him here. 

He was a nuisance to the teachers all the time. 

It would be next to impossible to find a job, considering nearly every job required a quirk. 

His dream of being a hero was practically useless, he would be a liability on the battlefield. 

It was clear his mother didn’t want him around.  
Bakugou had proved himself in not wanting to be around him, let alone associated with him.

Love was out of the question, after all, who would want a quirkless person? 

Sighing as he walked to the koi pond where his notebook landed, he noticed the fish had started nibbling at the sides. 

“It’s not fish food...” he mumbled as tears started streaming down his face, taking the soggy book out of the pond. The ink was smeared and it was no longer redeemable even if he used a blow-dryer. 

“Dammit...” He sighed, throwing the book in the nearest bin. “To think I stood a chance...” 

His mother wouldn’t care if he didn’t come home, hell she’d be overjoyed to know he was dead. Maybe his father would come back to her. 

Wondering around the city for a while in a dazed state, Izuku belatedly noticed he’d reached the outskirts, where there were a few tall buildings and fewer heroes around. 

Eyes empty and body possessed by the urge to end itself, Izuku stumbled up the stairs until he reached the top floor, he realised what he was going to do. Was there anything to stop him?  
Going over his reasons, he reached a simple conclusion: no. 

Tearing a piece of paper out of one of his school books, he scribbled down a note and left it next to his bag.  
The sun was setting over to skyline, casting oranges and pinks across the sky. 

‘What a nice place to die...’ He thought morbidly, shivering at the gust of wind brought from being at least 7 stories off of the ground. Walking towards the edge of the building, he let out a small smile at the serenity he felt. 

He wouldn’t have to suffer at the hands of his bullies, wouldn’t have to suffer and the hands of Bakugou or his mother. 

The burden of needing to put so much effort into everything would be lifted off of his shoulders and society’s stereotype of being useless, worthless, would be gone, thrown out the window like his notebook.

Lifting his skinny legs over the railing before holding onto it using only his hands, Izuku remembered what he would be: a single statistic in a newspaper article that would probably be irrelevant in 10 years or so. 

Both legs planted firmly on the concrete edge, he used one hand to keep himself attached to the railing, his last clutch to life, and peered over the ledge, seeing an empty pavement at least 50 metres below him. 

All he needed to do was let go. 

The wind blew against him, forcing him to slit his eyes against the harsh gust.

He could’ve done this at home with no one watching, Inko not being home for another few hours. He could’ve avoided the harsh wind trying to force him back to safety -to life and despair and suffering- but no, he chose here. 

No one would look.

No one would hear.

No one would care.

“Don’t do it.”


	2. I want to say goodbye

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) So I did two exams and my hand hurts from writing like 6 pages. I’m tired and want to pass out for a week (meaning I wanna get to the Xmas holidays). 
> 
> 2) I’m restructuring some of this fic, but once I reach the last chapter I wrote there will be less updating.
> 
> 3) I hope you enjoy the chapter and leave a comment and kudos!
> 
> WARNINGS: 
> 
> ⚠️ Attempted suicide  
> ⚠️ Suicide baiting
> 
> (Tell me if there are any others needed)

Kami, Aizawa was tired from yesterday’s patrol to cover Mic’s, but he owed him a favour for when Mic saved his ass on Friday night’s patrol so there wasn’t too much harm in another. 

His evening patrol over the outskirts had been fine; he’d captured two muggers and a robber with a weak telekinesis quirk, but other than that it was peaceful.  
Criminals preferred to attack the city for some reason, probably because there were more opportunities there. 

Frowning at the sight of an irregular blob on a building, Aizawa leapt over rooftops to find out who or what it was. 

As he stealthily made it closer to the building, Aizawa made out fluffy -more like messy- hair and a school uniform again the bloody sunset. More specifically, a person on the edge of a rooftop ready to jump off. 

He was far from inexperienced with jumpers, but Aizawa internally frowned at another person who would become no more than a statistic. Judging from their height, they couldn’t have been older than 16. 

Jumping over the last gap between the tall buildings, he saw a mess of green hair and a shivering form on the opposite ledge.

If Aizawa attempted to save him with the capture weapon then he might hear it and be startled abruptly enough to fall off. 

There was the option of talking, but again the shock of another person being there could make him fall off.  
Mic’s approach was normally talk and he was relatively successful... 

“Don’t do it.” The boy froze before turning around to gaze at Aizawa with wide, half-empty eyes. 

“W-why do you care?” He asked, the wind carrying his quiet voice over to the hero. 

“Because no one should have to deal with so much that they believe they should kill themselves,” he replied steadily, his muscles tensing to grab the capture weapon if the boy did decide to fall off. 

“Can I a-ask you a q-question Eraserhead?” The boy asked as he faced him, eyes boring into the rail he was gripping onto. 

“Yes.” Anything to branch onto. 

“Do you think a quirkless person can become a hero?” 

Now everything made a lot more sense. 

Quirkless people are seen as weak by a good proportion of society, and now with more children growing up with quirks, they were seen as useless and even ‘disgusting’ by others. It was shameful. 

“The path towards a hero certainly may be more difficult, but with enough effort and determination, I think it is possible. So yes, I do think a quirkless person can become a hero.” 

The boy’s eyes flickered with an emotion Aizawa couldn’t recognise -or maybe it was several emotions at once- before he climbed onto the other side of the railing- the one where he wouldn’t fall.

“T-thank you Eraserhead.” Wow, this boy stuttered a lot. Speaking of which...

“Hey kid, what’s your name?” He asked as he walked up to the kid, slowing down after he flinched, not wanting to frighten him any more. 

“M-Midoriya.” That was probably the most Aizawa was going to get from him for now, especially with the emotional trauma he was living through. 

“Midoriya, I’m going to walk you home.” His tone left no room for argument but Midoriya didn’t resist, obediently walking in front of him as they made their way down 8 floors. 

It was a quiet walk back, but Midoriya looked like he was exhausted with his eye bags and fidgeting and Aizawa wasn’t in the mood for talking.

Arriving at the apartment complex he lived in, Aizawa noticed most of the place looked run down, with peeling walls and the odd broken window. 

“Eraserhead...please don’t tell my mother about what I was about to do,” Midoriya asked quietly. 

Aizawa raised an eyebrow, wanting a damn good reason why he shouldn’t. 

“She already w-worries enough about me enough and i-is providing for both of us without dad...I don’t want her being even more stressed out. I p-promise I’ll tell her eventually but not now...not when we’re so close to um...” 

“Don’t worry kid, I won’t yet. But if I find out you haven’t told her within the next few weeks I will have to tell her myself.” Aizawa stared him in the eyes and he nodded almost fearfully...but something didn’t seem right. 

Ignoring his gut feeling -a moment he would regret in the near future- Aizawa allowed the kid to walk to his apartment and enter it before leaving to continue his patrol, mentally noting apartment number 13.  
____________________________________________ 

He could feel her death glare the second he stood up after taking his shoes off. 

“Why are you late?” Inko growled, fists clenched but eyes not fully meeting his...were they aimed just above his shoulder? He didn’t know, he didn’t want to anger her anymore. She can’t know what he attempted less than an hour ago, she can’t know he wanted to end his life -still wants to end his life. 

“Something came up at school, I’m sorry I’m late,” he apologised as he bowed before waiting for dismissal. 

“Tch. I let you stay here with a room and your useless self can’t even turn up on time? Pathetic. Don’t expect any food tonight.” She turned her head and that was all he needed to wait for before bolting to his room.

Sighing, he quickly showered and changed before doing any homework he had due, letting himself drown out the sound of the outside world. If he allowed himself to think about what he’d done, what he’d failed to do because ‘don’t you always fail at things Izuku’, he would try again and again until he succeeded. He passed out from both physical and emotional exhaustion at 11 PM.  
___________________________________________

Today was already off on a bad note. Inko yelled at him to get out within 20 minutes once he’d woken up from a restless sleep, his stomach was snarling from not eating anything for a day or so.

Feeling slightly dizzy as he walked into school, he realised no one had bothered him yet and he wasn’t sure if he should be thankful for this blessing or wary of it, seeing as someone would normally try and trip or shove him into a locker. 

Opening the door to his classroom, he didn’t trust the calm atmosphere- maybe he was being too paranoid? Something just wasn’t right. Maybe it was because Bakugou wasn’t there yet. 

As he stumbled to his desk, red petals caught his eye. Specifically, a red spider lily petals.

“What the hell?” He whispered as the other students snickered, them noticing he’d seen the flowers. Who wanted him dead that much? 

He hadn’t done anything to them! 

He’d let them beat him, shove him, call him names and constantly belittle him. People had even given him death threats...but this was the worst it’d been in a while. 

He’d tried, he really had. 

Throughout his life he’d pushed forward, trying to ignore the bullies’ actions and words from stabbing him and pulling him down, his mother’s own hateful words contributing to his self-hatred. 

Even with Eraserhead’s words in his head, he couldn’t stop the voices of hatred and doubt drowning the outside world out. 

Maybe...maybe trying to die yesterday was right...maybe it wasn’t worth living anymore.  
____________________________________________

Why the hell did he hang around these idiots? One of them even tried to suicide bait Deku! He may insult Izuku to bring down his ego -after all, it’s impossible for someone to become the number one hero when they’re quirkless- and sometimes put him in his place, but damn, he’s not stupid enough to try that. That could stop him from getting into UA!

Walking to class was a pain, but 10 more months of this torture and then he could try and get into UA, and he would succeed.

As he entered and sat down, he heard the class snickering and noticed Deku standing motionlessly in front of his desk with a plant on it...was that a red spider lily!? Who...what...why? Why would someone go that far?

“Midoriya, get that plant off of your desk and sit down. Don’t make me ask you again,” the teacher commanded, not even looking up from his desk. 

This seemed to shake Deku back to reality, but his actions seemed almost robotic as he dropped the lily in the bin. 

He stayed silent throughout the classes we shared and hadn’t spoken a word by the end of the day. As soon as the last class was dismissed, Bakugou decided to try something he hadn’t done in years.

Marching up to Deku as he packed up his things, he created one of the most intimidating auras he could and made a small explosion, making the green-haired boy flinch but not look up. 

“Oi, Deku! What do you think you’re playing at huh? Staying silent all day?” He shouted, trying to get a reaction out of him. “Look at me when I’m talking to you!” 

As he raised his head, Bakugou almost took a step back when saw how dead Izuku looked. That spark of determination had left his eyes and he looked like he’d given up. 

“Kaachan I’m not in the mood today,” he hoarsely replied, walking out the classroom before his brain could even begin to process what the hell had just happened. 

“Deku!” He yelled as he sprinted into the corridor only to see Izuku had vanished.

“Dammit,” he growled as he stalked out of the school grounds. 

When had the nerd ever acted like that? He acted like someone had killed all of his family and he wanted to disappear from reality. 

Thoughts consuming him, he hadn’t realised he’d walked down some shady alleyway until he kicked a bottle in frustration. 

“Thanks kiddo...” A slimy voice cackled, echoing all over the alley as the shadows deepened around him.


	3. Well this is new...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) Shorter chapter because I can’t combine the next with this, the time frames wouldn’t make sense.
> 
> 2) Editing happened...probably will happen again. (Edit: it happened again 30/1/21).
> 
> 3) Enjoy the chapter and leave a kudos and comment!

This is what people meant when they said ‘don’t meet your idols’. Your dreams get crushed. 

Meeting All Might and asking him if he could become a hero only for him to say no was probably one of the most crushing things he’d endured. 

“Why?” He was too exhausted to stop the tears, instead lightly brushing them away. “Why does no one believe in me? What have I done?” 

Self deprecating thoughts ran wild in his head until an explosion shook him back to reality, the sound too loud to ignore.

‘The hell was that?’ He thought as he jogged down the stairs of the building. ‘If it was a villain attack...it’s not like he could help.’ 

More thoughts swirled around his head until another explosion blew them away for him to see someone being held by...a pile of sludge?

Crap! It was the sludge villain that had attacked him earlier...All Might must’ve dropped it when Izuku grabbed onto his leg...why did he cause so much trouble for everyone? He wasn’t meant to cause too much hassle, he was meant to be low maintenance because who else would want him -hell, what was there to want? 

“It’s not like I can help though...” He murmured to himself, almost turning away before he made out who was caught. 

“Get off of me you pile of crap!” Bakugou screeched, more explosions coming from his palms, albeit they were doing nothing. 

“Damn you’re a powerful one...this won’t take too long, but the more you resist the more time it will take...” The scratchy voice of the slime guy made Izuku want to vomit. 

Looking around, Izuku saw Kamui Woods, Mount Lady and some other heroes doing...nothing?! Why weren’t they doing anything? They were heroes for Kami’s sake!  
Bakugou looked almost...damn he looked almost scared...scratch that he was. 

Screw it. No one would care if he died so he may as well try and save Bakugou. 

He sprinted into the fire, ignoring the yells of the heroes to stay back as scorching flames leaped at his clothes and did one of the bravest yet stupidest things of his life. 

Observing the situation, the most solid and vulnerable part of this guy was his eyes, so Izuku chucked his schoolbag at him. 

It was the most he could do considering he was quirkless, but it made the slime villain loosen his grip enough for Bakugou to breathe and make a big enough explosion that he could escape, but that was all the time they could get.

“Why you-!” The monster screamed, it’s slime seeping out towards them, but before it could do anything else a miracle happened. 

“TEXAS SMAAAAAASH!” All Might punched the villain, almost disintegrating the monster, but in the process created enough force to blow the clouds away!

While in such a dazed state, Izuku must’ve zoned out, because one minute All Might was standing in front of everyone, victorious from his fight, and the next Kamui Woods and the other heroes and scolding him for running into the fire. 

‘How does this make any sense though?’ Izuku thought. ‘I -a quirkless teenager- did something while these heroes stood by because their quirks weren’t suited. These guys are jokes.’

He wanted to apologise to All Might for making him drop the villain but he was stuck with the reporters, so he decided he would try and find a way to apologise later.  
Wait- Inko would’ve seen the news! Oh god he was so screwed it wasn’t even funny. 

“I AM HERE!” All Might exclaimed as he jumped out from a side street, making him fall backwards in shock.  
“A-All Might?! But I t-thought you were stuck with those reporters?”

“I was able to escape them, I’m not the number one hero for nothing ya know-” Suddenly, ‘buff’ All Might turned into ‘skeleton’ All Might with a vicious cough, blood splattering over the pavement. 

“What the-?! All Might are you okay?!” He freaked out slightly, having only seen this twice. It wasn’t as if the blood freaked him out -god knows he’d dealt with it enough times- but seeing All Might of all the heroes cough out blood would startle anyone. 

“Agh!” He coughed out some more blood. “Don’t worry, that happens sometimes. What I wanted to say was that I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have crushed your dreams like that earlier on the rooftop, let alone leave you up there.” 

“N-no, it’s fine. You were on a time limit and you were right, my dreams should be more realistic...” It’s not like anyone else believed in him anyway.

“That gives me no excuse for what I said...do you still have you dream to become a hero?”

“Yes...why?” What would All Might be able to do? Give him a quirk? He’d believe that when people stop suicide baiting him.

“What were you thinking when you ran into that fire?” That threw Izuku off; why was All Might talking to him about his actions with the slime villain?

“I...” Looking back, did he really think at all? “I-I wasn’t thinking anything, my body s-started moving on its own,” he replied while fiddling with his fingers.  
All Might smiled slightly. 

“When most heroes think back to their origins, they mostly say that their body moved by itself.” What...?

“When I came across the attack in my weak form, I felt pathetic because my time limit was up. But your actions gave me the determination to carry on.”

Was he saying...?

“A hero’s actions normally spur on others and give them the hope to carry on, which means...”

He could become a hero?

“...Izuku Midoriya, you can become a hero!”


	4. Deja vu with a twist

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) Thank you to the people who commented saying I’d reposted a chapter, I felt so embarrassed lol. Idek when I posted that (prob like midnight) but it said it saved as a draft so I was fooled. A N Y W A Y-
> 
> 2) Enjoy the chapter and leave a kudos and comment!

The past few months had been crazy with All Might’s training, school, his job and avoiding Inko finding out about it all, however effort comes with its rewards. 

He’d become stronger, physically at least, and had cleared the beach within the first 8 months, leaving him to receive All Might’s quirk One For All. 

He was now able to use up to 10% of the quirk’s power, but it was better than receiving the power on the day of the entrance exam. 

To say he was shocked when he found out that All Might’s quirk could be transferred to someone else was an understatement, but God was that a blessing. He was one step closer to becoming a hero!

Training with All Might had given him confidence he’d known he’d needed for years but couldn’t get, however Inko was still a massive wall he couldn’t climb, let alone tackle, yet. 

Bakugou was...quieter than usual. He didn’t do anything to him, never spoke to him, nothing. 

He wasn’t sure if this was an improvement or not.  
Walking towards Dagobah Beach wasn’t the worst trip considering he would walk through the nicer parts of the city, but as he walked past the butcher’s shop, he noticed some people chasing a kid with purple hair into an alley in his peripheral vision. 

Having been in that kind of situation many times and having the knowledge of how that normally ended, he sprinted after the kids, not bothering to use One For All considering his average speed had increased throughout the past few months. 

Silently entering the alley, he saw the shadows of the bullies looming over the purple-haired kid -well, teen now that he was closer- them spitting threats at him. 

“Hey!” He yelled, startling some of them. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” He didn’t normally use such language, but it made him appear more threatening than he was.

“Teaching this villain a lesson!” One teen with scaly wings snarled. 

“He looks like a normal kid to me! Now go before I call the cops or the heroes!” The other two just carried on kicking the guy, him curling into himself. 

The teen placed his hands over his head and Izuku saw himself there, vulnerable and no one helping him...fine, this would go to force. 

Using 3% of his power, he sprinted between the guys and the boy on the ground and shoved them backwards, away from the kid with bruises. 

“Go!” He yelled, making them sprint out of the alley. 

“Wha- why would you protect him! He’s a villain!” The one with wings screamed, but he glared at him.

“This kid looks normal to me, now leave!” He made lightning flare around his body, a cool trick he’d learnt during training, effectively scaring the kid off. 

Turning around, he realised the kid was staring up at him. Damn, he had some serious eye bags...

“H-hey, are you okay? Wait, that’s a dumbass question to ask, of course you’re not okay you were being beaten up...”

“I’m fine, thanks.” He had one hand on the wall and used it to stand up, almost falling forward after he put weight on it.

“Let me help you up,” Izuku suggested, holding out his hand. 

After a few seconds of hesitation, the kid took his hand and staggered up, making it a few steps before letting out a yelp. 

“Do you want me to walk you back-? Wait, I haven’t even introduced myself, uh, I’m Midoriya. Who are you?” God, small talk wasn’t his strong suit. 

“Shinsou.” The boy replied curtly. “Also...thanks for helping back there. But why?” 

“Why what?” He asked, surprised.

“Why help a stranger in a shady alleyway than stay in the safety of the main street?” Shinsou asked.

“I’ve been where you were several times, and no one helped, so I couldn’t resist. Anyways, isn’t it a heroes’ job to butt into other people’s business?” 

“Heh, I suppose,” he laughed quietly.

“Do you want me to guide you to where you want to go? I-I don’t want them coming back to jump you.” 

“Eh, no, I’m fine. I mean, dad will be angry at me before being a worry wart and pops will be worried almost immediately but nothing bad will happen.”

“C-can I still walk you back a bit of the way? I’m really worried about those bullies coming back for you and you not being able to defend yourself- ah! Not that I assume you’re weak or anything it’s just that you’re injured and-” 

“Chill, it’s fine. I don’t mind you walking me back a bit.”  
He ended up walking Shinsou all the way back to his house instead of partially that way, but he found out some things about him! 

He wanted to go to UA for the Hero Course because he’s always admired superheroes, his favourite heroes are Eraserhead and Present Mic, he loved cats and he’d been bullied because of his quirk: Brainwashing. 

“You know Shinsou, with your quirk you could order villains to stop whatever they’re doing and help civilians! It would be so cool!” He’d started rambling at some point...he really hoped he didn’t think he was weird. 

“Huh, I hadn’t thought of it that way before. I’ve mainly been studying and training for the entrance exam because there’s a rumour it’ll be robots, not people or anything. My quirk wouldn’t work on that so I’d be in general studies instead.” Fair enough. 

As they entered Shinsou’s neighbourhood, medium to large sized houses lined the street with neat gardens.  
His house was fairly big...maybe his parents were rich? 

“I’m pretty sure my parents might want to meet you,” Shinsou said as he knocked on the door, having forgotten his keys. 

“Why would they want to meet me?” He asked, surprised as to why they would have an interest in him.

“You are the guy who saved me from those bullies after all.”

The door opened to reveal a man with serious eye bags, long black hair and a frown on his face-wait was that-?

“Hitoshi, where have you been?” The guy asked in an almost monotonous voice, however he could detect the concern; living with Inko made him more attentive to everything, hence his ability to analyse situations quickly. 

“It’s a bit of a long story...” 

The guy looked at him with recognition in his eyes, only for his suspicions to be confirmed: one of Shinsou’s father was Pro-Hero Eraserhead. 

“Uh- it was a pleasure meeting you Shinsou hope you stay safe I gotta go bye!” He yelped as he used 5% of One For All to sprint out of there as quickly as humanly possible, ignoring the stares on his back and the yell of ‘wait!’.


	5. Bitch you thought-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) This is a short chapter because the next chapter is a timeskip and again won’t make sense if it’s tagged onto the end of here.
> 
> 2) Updates are slow because online school is kicking my ass and I go to bed late cos I’ve been doing work from 9 AM to after 7 PM and I’m losing my will to live. 
> 
> 3) Leave a kudos and comment to tell me what you think! Enjoy the chapter! (Also, this has nearly reached 10k and I’m lowkey losing my shit over that).

He didn’t know Shinsou lived with Eraserhead! Then again, it’s not like that would be a topic that would come up and he did avoid the subject of parents...

“Young Midoriya!” All Might exclaimed, surprised at his use of One For All.

“Ah! Yagi-san, sorry for being late it’s just that I met this boy my age he was being beaten up and-” 

“Woah, slow down so I can understand what you’re saying, also I told you you’re allowed to call me  
Toshinori!”

“Right, sorry.” He took a breath to calm down his racing heart, attempting to block out the thoughts of Shinsou knowing the same person who saved him tried to commit suicide a few months before. 

“I was walking to the beach when I saw this boy my age, h-he was being beaten up by some bullies because of his quirk. I stepped in -I only used my quirk to get to the boy nothing else- and yelled at them a bit before they left. I walked the kid back to h-his house, which is why I’m a bit late and when I realised I use One For All ‘cause I kinda panicked, s-sorry about that...” He trailed off, remembering his encounter with Eraserhead. Damn, that was scary.

“It’s fine Young Midoriya, but you need to remember to limit your quirk use in public. You don’t have a license yet and if someone caught you, you may end up in trouble. We’re allowed to use it on the beach because barely anyone comes here anymore.” 

He wondered what Eraserhead thought of him -hell if he even remembered him- and what he had become now. 

“Enough of that! Let’s get back to training!” 

“Yes!”  
_____________________________________________

“Wait!” He yelled after Midoriya, annoyed that he disappeared just like that. All he wanted to ask was for his number so they could keep in contact...

Turning around, he realised Dad’s normally neutral expression had turned into raised eyebrows and a frown. 

“Dad...do you know him?” He asked as he walked into the house and took off his shoes as Dad walked in and shut the door behind him. Dad didn’t turn around but he nodded. “What? Since when?” 

“If you really want to know I’ll tell you,” he sighed. “I won’t tell you much because the kid -Midoriya- probably doesn’t want me telling you everything.” He nodded, so they went into the kitchen, Dad leaning against the counter and him sitting down.

“Shinsou, before I tell you this, I need you to agree not to tell anyone else. This isn’t my story to tell but I have a feeling you might meet him again. You can make your own educated guesses on this, but as far as I’m concerned, these are limited details.” 

“Ok, I won’t tell anyone.” How bad was the story gonna be that Dad needed him to agree on not telling anyone? 

Dad rubbed the bags under his eyes before starting.  
“I met Midoriya a few months ago on patrol. He was by himself on the top of an abandoned roof.”  
Why was Midoriya up there? Was he suicidal? Hell, was he still suicidal? 

“I talked to him and he asked me a question that made everything a lot more clear. He asked ‘can you become a hero without a quirk?’” That didn’t make sense though, he had a quirk, they literally saw it! 

“I said he could, and something must’ve changed from that, because he didn’t attempt to jump afterwards. I checked on him within the next few weeks and nothing seemed wrong, not from my point of view anyway.” 

“But dad! He has a quirk! We literally saw him use it, hell he used it in the alley!” He said, not fully understanding Midoriya’s situation. 

A few months ago he was quirkless and now he has a quirk? What’s that about?

“That’s interesting...maybe his quirk developed late?” 

“But it’s never been proven someone my age can get a quirk so late...” Wow, Midoriya sure was an enigma.  
Dad sighed before getting up and stretching.

“Well, you still need training for the UA entrance exam-” 

Crap, his body was going to h u r t later.


	6. Nothing to Lose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) Thank you for over 10k hits on the fic! 
> 
> 2) Okay here’s the next chapter, hope you enjoy :)
> 
> 3) Leave a kudos and comment!

This was it.

The UA entrance exam was the most nerve-racking experience he could think of. He couldn’t stop fidgeting with his blazer as he walked towards the entrance and didn’t notice the crack in the pavement and tripped, his hands immediately going to protect his face.

‘I haven’t even walked into the building and I’m screwing up,’ he sighed, awaiting the pain that would be in his arms in mere milliseconds- except it never came.

“Ah! Sorry for using my quirk on you without your permission!” A female voice exclaimed, helping him up from his hovering position above the pavement. “My name’s Uraraka Ochaco, what’s yours?” 

Looking up to see a girl with shoulder length hair and a smile, he realised he still hadn’t replied. 

“O-oh, my name’s Midoriya Izuku. Um, thanks for saving me.” He smiled sheepishly.

“No problem Midoriya! We’re all here to enter UA, may as well start saving people already,” she giggled slightly before checking her watch. “Sorry for holding you up. Are you going for the Hero Course?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Okay, lets go before we’re late!” She grabbed his wrist and they sprinted inside the building before the doors shut.

Once they’d sat down, the Voice Hero Present Mic came on stage to tell them what would happen during the Hero Course exam.

He explained that there would be robots that we would have to take out with their quirks with three of them earning an examinee points, however a guy with blue hair stood up and asked about the fourth one, which apparently earned no points. 

Before they could do that though, they needed to sit the written test, earning a few groans in the crowd. 

He think he’d done alright in the written exam considering he spent most of his evenings studying for it, so he should be okay, but the practical exam...

Standing outside of the practical area, it looked like a mini-city from the outside, however if the robots could do any serious damage there would be a lot of debris and someone could get trapped under it.

Hopefully his outfit wouldn’t get any tears, it’d cost him most of his money he’d done to help with the bills. 

It was fairly simple; a cyan hoodie with a t-shirt underneath, fingerless gloves, black jogging bottoms and red trainers, however there were a few additions. The soles of the trainers were reinforced with scrap metal that would double the impact of his kicks -courtesy of him and his tinkering on free days at the beach- and the gloves were made with a material that would reduce the force on his bones whenever he punched, since he had trouble mastering a punch with a high percentage of One For All. 

Those were the most expensive purchase, so he had to make sure they wouldn’t be wasted because of him failing.

“Section B, your practical entrance exam begins now!” Present Mic’s voice rang clear over the area, startling a few people, but by the time they had recovered, he’d activated 3% of One For All and sprinted into the city with only the boy with blue hair and glasses in front. 

Adrenaline fuelled by fear of failure made him more alert as he turned from the Main Street to one of the side streets, wanting to be away from the other competitors while he had the chance.

“Come on, no hero has time to wait around for...” Present Mic’s voice faded away as he made his way through the maze of streets and alleyways, looking out for any robots. 

There, a two pointer! He channeled 5% of One For All and punched the robot, using the wall to absorb his extra momentum as the robot exploded. 

The same process happened with several more robots, him keeping his score as time ticked by. 

How much time was left? He wasn’t sure, but he should have enough points to make it through. 

Thoughts of failure because of his slack said otherwise and he tore his way through streets to find more robots.

As he stopped to observe the other candidates and slow down his heavy breathing, the ground started to tremble and a shadow looked over the area. 

Everyone looked up to see a huge robot! Wasn’t this the 0 point robot that Present Mic told them not to worry about?!

Its right arm lashed out, destroying part of an office building next to it and causing chunks of concrete to fall, each making a heavy dent in the road.

All the others started to run away from the robot, too scared to try and defeat it. He started backing away too, not wanting to be crushed by the thing, but he heard a cry for help from where the crushed pieces of the building were.

Wasn’t that Uraraka? What the hell, were the UA staff trying to kill them!? That thing would crush her!

She was stuck under a piece of concrete but she couldn’t lift it off of her, and before he had time to think about it, he moved. 

His body was fuelled with 8% of One For All but he was struggling to maintain control all of it and was forced to think of something quickly. 

His best bet was to knock the robot backwards and grab Uraraka, but time would be wasted when lifting the concrete off of her and the robot could crush them. 

Backing up a few steps, he sprinted forwards, charging his legs with One For All and using the buildings around him to gain speed and momentum, sending himself towards the robot and sending all the power he could to his right fist. 

Hopefully he wouldn’t shatter all the bones in his arm.

Yelling, he punched the robot’s head off of its shoulder, using all of his momentum to make sure he sent it flying backwards and not on top of everyone in the area. 

His arm was screeching in agony -he must’ve broken or fractured it- however that wasn’t his main concern.

His main concern was not dying by smacking into the ground.


	7. Pencils are like people

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) I felt happy enough with this chapter to post it, but next chapter may be a bit late because of school etc.
> 
> 2) Pacing? The hardest thing I’ve ever heard of and hadn’t considered until someone brought it up in the comments. How the fuck do others consciously write it? 
> 
> 3) Enjoy the chapter and leave a kudos and comment! (Please leave *constructive* criticism if you can as well).

Oh shit this was not how he planned this to go. 

There were about 5 seconds before his body smashed into the ground and all he could do was scream. Was this seriously how he died? 

Squeezing his eyes shut, he braced himself to feel sheer agony, not expecting the slap on his left cheek and all the air around him stopping completely. 

Inching open his eyes, he noticed the ground was a couple of feet away from him, his body horizontal to it like earlier when he’d tripped and Uraraka had saved him-

“Phew, I got you in time,” Uraraka muttered before pressing her hands together. “Release.” 

He let out a quiet ‘oomph’ as he hit the ground face-first, almost crying out when his injured arm moved as it hit the ground. He wriggled around for a bit before he was able to turn over and sit up, swallowing a painful whimper. He should be used to it by now right?

The horn that signalled the end of the exam sounded a few seconds after as an elderly lady -was she Recovery Girl?- made her way down the street. 

“T-thanks Uraraka,” he managed to get out, exhaustion hitting as he came down from the brief adrenaline high.

“Any injuries you two?” Recovery Girl asked as she handed out sweets -‘gummy bears,’ he thought- to the others surrounding us. 

“I-I’m fine, just feeling,” Uraraka swallowed, her face pale. “Just feeling sick.” 

“And you young man?” 

“I’m pretty sure I fractured my arm,” he replied quietly, flinching when Recovery Girl kissed his cheek. 

“That should take care of it.” She handed him some gummy bears and ambled over to some other examinees.

The rest of the day went by quickly and by 5 he was unlocking the door, praying Inko wasn’t home already. 

His part-time job (analysing hero fights) paid enough that Inko wouldn’t bother him, only yelling when there wasn’t enough for what she wanted and the occasional smack when he was as incompetent as when he was quirkless and didn’t do as she said-

“Izuku.” Flinching, he turned around to see Inko in the dimly lit kitchen, her foot tapping impatiently. 

“Yes mother?” He forced himself to reply as he straightened his form, not wanting to annoy her in any way. That would end in more harsh words and maybe a smack.

“The money for this month’s rent?” 

Oh crap. He thought he left it on the table before he left! He must’ve forgotten when he’d woken up later than planned and rushed to get ready on time.

“S-sorry, I’ll get i-it now.” 

He scrambled to get to his room and find the envelope that contained the money. He must’ve left it out right? 

Snatching a white envelope off of his desk, he assumed it was for rent from the weight, not wanting to keep Inko waiting for too long. She became more vicious the longer she was kept waiting.

“T-this is it.” Inko snatched the envelope out of his already loose grasp, walking towards the door quickly after snapping at him for stuttering. 

His shoulders dropped with relief and he took a shower and changed, listening out for the door in case Inko came back. 

If she didn’t come back after 6, he could make dinner, but if she came back before then he would have to wait until the next day to eat. 

Once the clock hit quarter past six, he made himself some katsudon to celebrate making it out alive during the entrance exam, now only needing to wait for the results. 

As he plated up his meal, he wondered what would happen if he didn’t make it into UA.

It would definitely be devastating if he didn’t make it into UA, his hard work couldn’t be wasted and All Might would be incredibly disappointed.

However, it was an elite school and not everyone would make it in...but he was sure he earned enough points to pass and he was pretty sure the scoring system wouldn’t deduct points for something.

It was a fairly rigged test, even All Might admitted that when he was training, with the test showing the potential of student’s quirks only in battle and not in situations like stealth or rescue- then again he’d demonstrated that by saving Uraraka...

Now it was only a matter of waiting.  
_____________________________________________

If there was one thing he hated, it was the small voice in his brain saying All Might had abandoned him after weeks of radio silence. 

Logically, he knew that wouldn’t happen, after all, All Might had told him that he was his successor, but there was that small voice in his head telling him that he’d failed and All Might didn’t want to communicate with him out of sheer disappointment, so he didn’t contact him.

‘I almost died,’ he thought, finally taking the time to process it as he tapped his pencil against the desk. It didn’t make him shudder in horror at the thought. 

Tap. 

Tap. 

Tap. 

Tap. 

Tap. 

Tap.

After thinking about death for a certain amount of time, he felt numb to the idea of dying. He hadn’t made a mark in the world, and before he’d received his -no, All Might’s- quirk, he’d been content to die. 

Tap. 

Tap. 

Tap. 

Tap. 

Tap.

Hell, he’d been about to do it before Eraserhead showed up. 

He remembered the wind rushing around him as he fell after punching the robot. 

Was that what it would’ve been like if he’d fallen off of the roof?

Tap. 

Tap. 

Tap. 

Tap.

Maybe All Might picking him was a mistake. Maybe All Might hadn’t contacted him because it was too late to reverse his decision and he wanted nothing to do with Izuku? 

Maybe he shouldn’t have listened to Eraserhead. 

Tap. 

Tap. 

Tap.

His mother would’ve faked caring and Bakugou wouldn’t have given a damn. 

All Might wouldn’t have known he’d existed and would’ve given his quirk to someone more worthy -there were plenty of talented people at UA who deserved One For All instead of Izuku, who’d rushed into a fire in a half suicide attempt- and Izuku could be gone. 

Tap. 

Tap. 

He could be dead.

Tap.

He could be at peace-

Snap!

Someone knocked rapidly at the door, signalling mail or a package had arrived, snapping him out of his thought process -ah crap, he’d snapped his pencil.

“C-coming!” He yelled, anxious to see if this was Inko or not. If he left her waiting outside for too long, she would definitely yell at him for being slow-

“Package for Inko Midoriya.” A delivery woman with yellow eyes and brown hair said, a large package at her feet as she typed something into her phone.

“I’ll take it,” he said, crouching down to move the package to inside the house, surprised by how heavy it was.

“Name?”

“Izuku Midoriya.” The delivery woman raised her pierced eyebrow. “I-I’m her son.”

“Okay. I’ll need a signature.”

“S-sure.” 

‘We don’t normally receive packages. Why would mother need something as big as this?’ He wondered as he signed to say the package was collected. ‘It’s better not to ask,’ he decided as he left the package on the kitchen table. 

He went back to sketching his hero costume, deciding on if he should have a mask or not. 

“If I didn’t have a mask, it would probably be better in tight spaces and if I wanted my identity to be clear, but it would be better to have one for filtering. Maybe I don’t need one that would cover my whole face though? Having one with lenses would be better for protecting my eyes...”

His debate lasted until his bedroom door slammed open, startling him out of it. 

Inko stood in the doorway, her hair almost floating as her eyes glowed a harsh green. He stiffened and he made sure to place his newly-started pencil gently on the desk, not wanting to seem distracted in any way. Inko would hate it if his attention didn’t seem all on her-

“Do you know what’s in the package?” She growled.

“W-what?” He asked tentatively.

“Idiot child. Don’t make me repeat this. Do you know what’s in the package?”

“N-no-”

“Liar.”

“I swear I don’t know! The delivery lady asked me to sign for the package and that was it! I didn’t ask what was in it, all I did was leave it on the kitchen table,” he gave all the information he could in minimal time so she wouldn’t become more angry with him than she was already.

Inko’s eyes went back to normal and her hair lay on her shoulders again. 

“Good,” she said, turning around to leave only to stop in the doorway. “Wait a minute.” The air froze. He swallowed. “Since when were you strong enough to carry something that heavy. You could barely pick up a dumbbell before.” 

“I-I worked out over the summer,” he fumbled for something that sounded truthful, desperate not to show how nervous he was. She couldn’t know he was training to be a hero, she would mock him and ask him what skills he has when she thought he was quirkless.

“Why?” She was really suspicious.

“Because I needed to be healthier-”

“Yeah right,” she laughed mockingly. “Whatever, I don’t care. Don’t get in my way and expect more packages to come over the next few days, but if you look at them-” her eyes glowed and the freshly sharpened pencil floated menacingly close to his eye “-you’ll wish I threw you out a long time ago.” 

The pencil dropped on the floor as she walked out, him letting out a bated breath when the door slammed shut.

He picked up the pencil, sighing when he saw that the graphite had broken.


	8. Protostar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) This is the first story I’ve written 10k+ words for! It’s taken me nearly a year considering I rewrote this halfway through, but I’m happy with where this is at. I know future me will come along and rewrite this if I have time lol.
> 
> 2) Have some fluff, you all need it. (I also need it considering I have delayed a shit ton of work to write this). Listening to MHA OST’s and writing actually works, especially for this chapter. 
> 
> 3) Enjoy the chapter and leave a kudos and comment!

He stared at the letter on his desk, the lamplight making it stand out against the rest of his dark room. 

What would he do if it was a rejection? What would he do if it was an acceptance? 

He could delay it. 

He could read it now. 

What were his other options? Go straight into work if he failed?  
No, then All Might giving him One For All would be a waste of potential -he would be a waste- and he’d rather die than fail All Might.

Opening the letter with shaky hands, all he found was a disc. 

“What?” He muttered as he examined the disc, confused as to why UA would send something like that. “Crap!”  
He fumbled with it, wincing when the disc clattered on the desk. 

Inko wouldn’t hear it from the living room, would she? She’s told him not to disturb her for the next few hours, he needed to respect her wishes if he didn’t want her to yell at him later.

“Young Midoriya!” All Might -well, a video of him in a mustard yellow suit- was projected onto his wall. 

“Gah!” He yelped, not expecting a loud video message.  
“All Might?! W-what’re you doing at UA?” 

“It is I, All Might! Through a screen of course,” he laughed jovially through the video. “Many will be surprised I am here, but I’ve come to work at UA!” His jaw dropped.

“A-All Might, working at UA? Why?” He muttered, wide eyes still focused on the projection. 

All Might cleared his throat. “Down to business. Even if you scored lowly on the written exam, you impressed many with your quirk, but scored barely under the required amount to pass the practical exam. Of course, that means you didn’t pass.” 

His heart skipped a beat and his brain struggled to process his idol’s words. He couldn’t have failed, all because he missed out a couple of robots? He’d tried his best, he’d counted how many points he’d earned- maybe he’d miscounted a few and fooled himself into believing he’d done well.

His fingernails dug into his palms as his face scrunched up, fighting tears that threatened to run down his cheeks. 

All Might didn’t show disappointment on the screen though, which was odd. Izuku had failed him, how was he not upset? He was a waste of potential, just as he’d feared. He swallowed the painful lump in his throat.

“...if that was all there was to it.” What? “Before I continue though, watch this video!” All Might stepped aside, the camera panning over the bright studio to a TV where a video started playing.

“Excuse me, umm...” The nice girl’s unsure voice sounded clearly through the video. She walked through a door frame and a person with styled blonde hair and leather jacket -Present Mic?- faced the girl. 

“Huh? Uraraka?” His eyebrows raised. What was she doing? 

“Um, the person with curly hair and freckles, Midoriya...is it possible for me to give him some of my points?” 

His jaw dropped once again. 

‘But why? You should use them to get through, you earned them fair and square!’ He reasoned. 

“I’m not sure how many points he earned, but he used his time to save me instead of going to fight other robots. I think he knew that was the 0-point robot as well.” 

‘What the hell can you do?’ Bakugou’s voice echoed in his head.

“At least the points he lost because of me...”

‘There was absolutely no reason for you to put yourself in danger!’ Kamui Woods’ voice joined Bakugou’s, the hero having berated him after the sludge villain attack.

“He saved me!” 

His fingers went slack and he stared at the screen, amazed at Uraraka’s willingness to give him points. 

The camera went back to All Might, the hero also watching the footage. 

“Your actions spurred others to act.” All Might turned around. “The entrance exam the other day was not graded only on villain points!” He formed an X with his arms.

No way.

“How can a hero course reject people who save others and do the right thing? Call that lip service? Bring it on!” 

His hands shook and he pushed down the bubbling hope in his chest. He couldn’t have made it, no way. All Might had said he’d failed earlier in the clip!

“This is a job that requires risking one’s life to put that lip service into practice.”

A score board showed up on the projection, with the title ‘Rescue’ being shown in electronic green lettering.

“Rescue points!” All Might exclaimed. “Izuku Midoriya, 60 points!” 

He slapped his hands over his mouth, desperate not to make too much noise as the hope boiled into excitement.

He’d done it! He’d made it into UA! 

“And Ochaco Uraraka, 45 points!” 

Uraraka made it as well, without sparing him points!

“You both pass.” 

“Oh my god, yes!” He yelled, jumping around his room in ecstasy, fighting the childish urge to jump on his bed. 

The door slammed open, Inko standing there with her hair floating like snakes. 

“Izuku!” He flinched, freezing in place almost immediately. “What are you screaming about? You’re disturbing me.”

“I- uh, I was accepted into UA,” he stammered out. 

Maybe she’d be proud of him and congratulate him- no, that was too much of a fantasy. Maybe she wouldn’t yell at him-

“How did you get into a top hero school? You don’t even have a quirk,” she sneered. The words cut, but he was fighting to not show how elated he was that he’d even received a place and was too high on cloud 9 to care. 

“I entered the general studies course,” he lied out of his teeth. 

“So why was All Might, of all the heroes, congratulating you? He doesn’t even work at UA.” She wasn’t showing signs of giving up too soon.

“I’m not sure, maybe he did that for all the students who earned a place? He said he was going to teach at UA at the beginning of the video.” 

‘Please, just buy the lie,’ he prayed internally, hoping she couldn’t see how red his ears were or that he was looking at her forehead and avoiding her eyes.

“Right. I don’t fully understand how you stole a place at UA considering how useless you are, but right now I don’t care. It doesn’t change the fact you need to pay for the stuff you need and the uniform, you still need to pay the bills due in.” 

She walked out, using her quirk to slam the door after she left. 

He breathed easily once again. 

Confrontations, no matter who the person was, stressed him out. 

Talking to Inko- well it was easy to see how tense their conversations were. The same went for Bakugou, except after the Sludge villain, Bakugou ignored him more often than not.

Talking to All Might was overwhelming, after all, he was the number 1 hero, his mentor and idol. It was amazing he didn’t pass out the first time they’d talked, let alone during the mentoring sessions.

Even with Uraraka and Shinsou he’d been nervous. What if he messed up and made a fool of himself and they didn’t like him anymore and- 

He slapped his cheeks, bringing himself back to reality. 

‘Focus Izuku.’ He told himself before remembering he’d just been accepted to UA- he’d been accepted to UA! 

He’d done it, he’d made it one step closer to his dream of becoming a great hero! He couldn’t dance around his room again, Inko would throw a fit and probably kick him out. 

He eyed his running trainers next to the dumbbells, the red a stark contrast to the plain white of his walls.  
_____________________________________________

Keeping his breaths even as he placed one foot in front of the other, he easily made it to Takoba beach in 20 minutes, leaning against the railings to take in the view. 

The moon illuminated the navy waves as they crashed against the shore, the platinum sand almost a ghost-like white since it was so far away from the streetlights. 

Restless energy thrummed through his body, his fingers tapping at air while his arms rested on the chilling metal. 

‘It wouldn’t hurt to run,’ he thought. ‘As long as I stay near the wall and don’t go past the 2 mile mark, otherwise it’ll be late and a pain in the ass to walk back to the apartment.’ 

It felt good to release his energy, the stress of waiting for the results letter keeping him inside all day and letting his thoughts build. 

Now that’d he’d made it into UA, he’d have to prove he’d been worth all the time All Might spent with him and he’d be a worthy successor of the number 1 hero-

“Young Izuku!” He stopped at the voice, turning his head to see where it came from. Only one person called him that though. 

“All M- I mean, Yagi-san!” He called out, seeing the skeletal man at the top of some stairs that led down to the beach. 

“Izuku, how many times have I told you to call me Toshinori?” He asked mock-sternly, electric blue eyes soft.

“Ah, sorry Toshinori-san.” He smiled sheepishly. 

The blonde man shook his head, smiling as he made his way down the steps with his plastic bag. 

“I guess it’ll take practice for you to address me as ‘Toshinori’, eh?” He chuckled, sitting on the bottom step and gesturing for Izuku to sit next to him. “So, how was it finding out the result?” 

“It was crazy!” He exclaimed as he sat down. “I didn’t know Uraraka-san would try to give her points up for me!” 

“None of us expected her to either. Present Mic had to explain to her that the situation was being taken care of and she didn’t have to worry. She’s quite kind, a lot like you.” Toshinori turned to his bag, rustling around for something. “Aha!” His hand came out with a box of chocolate pocky sticks, quickly opening them and offering one to him. 

He hesitated. “Are you sure Toshinori-san?”

“Take one Izuku, you deserve it,” he encouraged. “You passed the entrance exam and earned your place at UA, that’s a very big achievement.”

“O-okay...” He picked one out of the box, waiting for Toshinori to take one too, not expecting him to slowly raise it to the sky. He raised his pocky stick as well, hoping that was what he was meant to do

“You, Young Izuku, are an absolute pleasure to mentor. You exceeded my expectations and your story has just begun. To the beginning of your hero journey!”


	9. The Molten or Gas Core

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) I felt motivated and sacrificed a ton of time for this chapter. Steupts (an Instagram user who is amazing, go check out their art please!) posted and replied to my comment. All is good for me despite it being a Monday. 
> 
> 2) I swear the next chapter will have some action. I actually swear there will be. I know the past few chapters have been kind of slow, but once I get going it’ll be action! 
> 
> 3) My upload schedule could get a bit dodgy. I wanna write something for the 14th Feb (even tho it’s Valentine’s Day, it was the day I joined ao3 and now that I think about it, it’s kind of cheesy-) and I have exams next month. Please bear with me on that! 
> 
> 4) Enjoy the chapter and leave a kudos and comment! (Constructive criticism appreciated).

He’d barely managed to pay for everything he needed, all the way from uniform to books. 

There went most of his savings, only 100000¥ left in his bank account compared to the 472000¥ before. 

Then again, it was better than nothing. He would have something to land on whenever Inko decided to kick him out, which would either be this July or when he turned 18. 

His analysis job was online and used under a code name -he regretted using the name ‘Minimight’ to this day- but it paid well and his employers didn’t know he was quirkless (well at the time he registered he was) therefore couldn’t discriminate against him. 

All the people who read his analysis saw just that- analysis. No (previously) scrawny, freckled boy who had been bullied. It was one of the few things that kept him sane. 

He studied and analysed hero fights, picking out what the hero did right, what the costs and benefits would be to their reputation, where they could go with their career and if an agency would recruit them, along with a few other things. 

As long as he kept that job, he would survive, but he had to balance his time.

Studying at UA meant needing to put all of his effort into everything, whether it was practical or theory. His life would be fine as long as he didn’t screw anything up. 

‘Train fair, check. Books, check. Tie...it needs work,’ he smiled weakly as he fiddled with it, not sure how it ended up short and fat when in the YouTube tutorial it was perfect. Maybe all he needed was practice? 

It was 7:30 AM now, so if he left within the next 15 minutes, he could make it to the train station with a few minutes to spare and maybe have a peaceful ride in, depending on how forgiving his luck seemed to be.

“Izuku!” He flinched at Inko’s call, not expecting her to be up so early. From the look of it, luck probably wouldn’t be on his side today.

“Yes?” He asked tentatively as he stumbled out of his doorway. 

“You’ll need to receive some packages throughout the day, understand?” Even in her dressing gown, Inko was intimidating, the hallway lights behind her casting her shadow over him despite the dim setting. 

“U-um...will the packages come in the afternoon?” He asked, not sure -and frankly, afraid- about telling her that he would still be at school.

“They’ll be here around 2.” He winced internally at what he’d definitely have to tell her. “Don’t look at them or ask the delivery person what’s inside. Got it?” What would she say at his response? Would it be disappointment or rage? His heart beat faster for a few seconds, palms sweaty as he spoke.

“I’ll still be in school then-” 

“Of course you forgot to tell me UA started today,” she sighed, pinching her nose with pointed nails. “Fine, I’ll sort it out since you’re clearly unable to do something as simple as collect packages.” 

He swallowed the lump in his throat. It’s not that he couldn’t, it’s that he couldn’t skip school for package deliveries-

“Go then,” she nodded towards the door before walking into the kitchen, shadows embracing her being until she slapped on the kitchen lights. 

He let out a sigh of relief once he quietly shut the front door, embracing the early morning air as he took in the sunrise. 

Pastel hues cast across the sky, clouds splattered across it as people bustled around the apartment complex, ready to start their day. 

He made his way downstairs, tripping on the one crumbly step he almost always forgot to avoid. 

“Good morning Midoriya-kun!” An elderly voice called out from somewhere near -oh, it was Koreikan-san! 

“Morning Koreikan-san,” he smiled politely as he noticed the plastic bag in his neighbour’s wrinkled hand, noting how she painted her nails pastel pink instead of beige this month. “How are you and your husband?” 

“We’re doing well,” she wondered to the nearby bin. “Could you open that for me dearie?” She gestured to the bin. 

“Of course,” he replied as he opened the bin’s large lid, wrinkling his nose as the smell wafted around the area, letting it fall shut when Koreikan dropped it in with the other waste.

“What about you, Izuku? I see you’re wearing the UA uniform,” her eyes crinkled when she smiled warmly at him. 

“A-ah yeah. I’m starting today.”

“Well done.” Something fluttered in his chest. “Good luck with your first day.” 

“Thank you Koreikan-san!” 

Grin on his face, he sprinted to the train station to not be late.  
____________________________________________

Letting out a breath after being stuck in a stuffy train carriage -rush hour was not to be messed with- he made his way to UA, praying he had classmates who wouldn’t make fun of him and would actually see him as someone worthy-

‘Stop it Izuku,’ he reprimanded himself. ‘You haven’t even met your classmates, you don’t know what they’re like.’ He forced himself to stop fidgeting with the straps of his rucksack, focusing on making his way to class 1-A without making a fool of himself.

He stopped before he walked onto the campus as the wind ruffled his hair, completely in awe of the building in front of him. The sun reflected against the windows, almost making it seem as if the spotlight was on UA. 

Students trickled inside and it suddenly hit him that this was his reality, that he would live out his dream.  
He would be training to be a hero with other people -hopefully they would become his friends- and he could fulfil his trampled dream of becoming a hero. 

‘But it’s not as if you’ve had a friend in years,’ his brain murmured as he walked inside, fighting not to show his surprise at how large the building was. Compared to Aldera, UA was a million times larger. 

He stopped himself from walking into another student at the last second, apologising before making his way up the stairs. 

‘How will you even get them to like you? You don’t have a distinct personality.’

He counted the door numbers, chest tingling at the aspect of meeting new people who might actually accept him-

Ah, 1-A! 

Who would be in his class? Well, who did and didn’t he want in his class? He would like for Uraraka to be in his class, she was nice -not to mention she’d tried to give her points to him- and seemed to like him. 

He hoped Shinsou had made it too, even if they hadn’t been in the same entrance exam. 

He felt guilty for leaving the boy on his doorstep without giving him his number, but Eraserhead wasn’t someone he wanted to talk to considering the last time he’d met the underground hero was on a rooftop. 

‘Okay, let’s see who I’ll be with for the next few years,’ he thought as he mentally braced himself, opening the door. 

“Take your feet off of that desk now!” What? Luck definitely wasn’t on his side today.

A tall -definitely taller than himself- blue haired boy was making a chopping motion at Bakugou- Bakugou Katsuki of all the people! This certainly wasn’t what he expected to see the second he walked into his new class. Maybe Bakugou wasn’t the complete king of the school for once. 

“Huh?” Bakugou mocked, feet still on the desk, an arrogant grin across his face.

“It’s the first day and you’re already disrespecting this academy by scuffing school property you cretin.”

“You’re kidding me right? Your old school put a stick up your ass, or were you born with it?” Ah, classic Bakugou. Never one to listen to others he seemed below himself. 

Bakugou’s eyes flickered over to where he was standing, Bakugou tensing and him breaking eye contact before anything could become awkward. No rumours had been spread about him already, right? No, they weren’t even an hour into the school day.

He wouldn’t have expected anything less from Bakugou, always aiming towards the top. He now had the chance to compete- wait, no, that was too far.  
He’d compete against other classmates before going for Bakugou, he couldn’t engage in any fights he couldn’t win, especially against someone who had years of bullying against him. He wasn’t that confident yet. 

The student berating Bakugou turned around, seeing Izuku and making his way over to him. 

“What’s your name?” He asked, glasses masking steely blue eyes.

“A-ah, I’m Midoriya,” he stammered out, not used to being talked to so forwardly by anyone but Inko and Bakugou. 

“My name is Iida. I saw how you acted during the entrance exam.” He did? Oh, right, Iida’s quirk was something to do with speed. After all, he was in front of Izuku in the initial sprint to make it into the robot grounds. “You saw the true meaning of the entrance exam, well done.” 

What? This wasn’t how he was expecting his first few minutes of being in UA to start with people being nice to him. 

“Um, thank you? I just wanted to stop Uraraka from being hurt, nothing else,” he said sheepishly. 

“You still showed qualities of a hero, even if you were reckless.” Well Iida was definitely a straightforward person. “Oh, we should move out of the doorway.”

“Ah, right.” He ignored the burning gaze on his back, content to keep chatting with someone he’d only met a few minutes ago. 

“What I’m curious about is how you didn’t control your quirk when punching the robot.”

“Pardon?” He asked, almost slamming his bag on the desk, completely blindsided by the comment. 

“I saw your injury after. Couldn’t you have prevented a broken arm?” Iida was too curious -no, investigative- for his own good. He probably meant no harm, but he started fidgeting with his fingers behind his back. 

“I-um-”

“Midoriya!” Hey, that was Uraraka!

“Uraraka,” he turned to see the rosy-cheeked -now that he thought about it, they reminded him of mochi- girl waving from the doorway. 

“I didn’t realise we’d both be in the same class,” she grinned, turning to face Iida. “Oh, um, I’m Uraraka.”

“I’m Iida,” he replied, the two engaging in conversation as he looked at the rest of the class. 

Some of the first people who caught his eyes was a boy with a crow head -did he have a mutant-type quirk?. 

There was a girl sitting on a desk with pink skin and horns -those were pretty cool, were they another mutant-type quirk or could they retract?- talking to two boys, one with spiky red hair and another with a lightning strike going through his hair. 

Another boy had a tail -how sensitive would it be?- standing next to a boy with multicoloured hair and a scar on his face...ah, that was Todoroki Shouto. Endeavour’s son and prodigy of the Todoroki family. He would be interesting to work with to say the least. 

Someone with wild purple hair walked through the door- that was Shinsou! 

He bit his tongue, wanting to call to the boy but not wanting to draw attention to himself. He disliked being the centre of attention, it always ended badly for him. Normally with bruises or embarrassment too. 

“Midoriya?” Uraraka asked, drawing into a conversation about what they could be learning ok the first day. 

They chatted for a few more minutes before there was a thump outside the classroom, them pausing to see what it would be. 

His eyebrows raised as a yellow sleeping bag took up the corridor, a man with long black hair inside of it. 

“Go somewhere else if you want to play at being friends,” a quiet but serious voice said. 

What the hell. Was this...this couldn’t be their homeroom teacher. This couldn’t be Eraserhead.

“This is a hero course.” The man unzipped the bag and drank -was that baby food or yogurt? Either way, he didn’t want to know. 

This was going to be an interesting hour...


	10. Abilities and Reticence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) I’m back, two weeks later, with a chapter that is longer than I expected. School was hell and I had a couple of breakdowns but I’m okay now. I’ve been on an absolute roll with stuff that I’ve written (go check out the Haikyuu!! stuff!) 
> 
> 2) The chapter titles actually mean things now lol so take notice 👀 
> 
> 3) Enjoy the chapter and leave a kudos and comment! (Constrictive criticism is always accepted.)

Changing into his PE kit, Izuku wondered how Aizawa was going to test them. Would they be sprinting or throwing heavy items? Endurance tests like the one they did in Aldera? He held back a shudder at the BPM test.

Anxiety curled in his stomach at the thought of Aizawa keeping him after school and asking him to explain why he had a quirk. 

The underground hero had stopped -not saved, he wouldn’t call it that- him from jumping off a roof under a year ago and Izuku didn’t want to be questioned now. Not when his life was looking up.

Then there was the question of Shinsou and why Izuku had run away as soon as he’d seen Aizawa. Would the teen ask why he’d had the living crap scared out of him or would he ignore him? 

“What do you reckon the test is?” The sharp-toothed boy -Kirishima?- asked, the boy next to him shrugging. 

“It could be anything,” the blonde replied as he tied his trainers. “This is UA, no one knows what’s gonna happen.” 

There was a murmur of agreement as they shuffled out of the changing rooms, walking out onto a wide, dirt packed space. It hadn’t rained in a while, which was probably why dust could be kicked up. 

He wandered over to where Uraraka and Iida standing, both of them idly chatting as the class waited for Aizawa to come out.

“Hey Midoriya!” She waved. “What do you think the test will be?” 

“I-It could be anything, but I don’t think it’ll be that difficult. It’s the first day, we probably won’t be doing anything extensive yet,” he replied.

“I agree with Midoriya, UA are probably going to see how powerful our quirks are,” Iida said. 

“Wouldn’t they do that during the entrance exam?”

“I don’t think they could.” Iida and Uraraka turned to him, causing his heart to flutter. He wasn’t used to being the centre of attention. “I mean, they’re looking for good candidates and some people may have only scraped by. The only people they’ll remember is people with flashy quirks.” 

“Fair point-”

“Listen up.” 

They all turned to face Aizawa, conversation on hold for now. 

The man wasn’t in a stained yellow sleeping bag anymore, instead wearing a grey scarf -capture weapon?- around his neck and black clothing. 

“In future training sessions, you’ll be put through different situations or be doing individual training. However, today’s lesson will be the Quirk Apprehension Test.” 

Murmurs of confusion echoed around him. 

“I’ve been allowed to test you however I want, so you’re going to do 7 different tests,” Aizawa started. “Each one evaluates your skill in different areas.” 

It seemed simple enough. 

“The first test is throwing this ball-” he held it up “-as far as you can using your quirk. I’ll be able to see how far you’ve thrown it on my phone.” 

‘That’s suspiciously simple,” he thought. ‘But it might be to see how well we can control our quirks and concentrate them on one item.’ 

“Bakugou, you can demonstrate,” Aizawa handed the blonde boy the ball. “The rest of you, stand over to the side and watch.” 

They all gathered on the long side of the court, Bakugou practice his swing as Aizawa watched with a blank face. 

“How far do you reckon he’ll throw it?” Someone murmured behind him. 

“Did you see his quirk in the entrance exam? He’ll probably throw it far as hell.”

He agreed, having witnessed the explosive abilities of Bakugou’s quirk many times. He could be destructive when he wanted to. 

“You can start,” Aizawa stated, hands in his pockets as Bakugou readied himself. 

He glanced at Bakugou’s hands, seeing how sparks were everywhere and repressing a flinch. 

The ball was gripped tightly in Bakugou’s hand, his arm gently swinging before he tensed and made one large arc with his arm. 

“Die!” He yelled, an fiery explosion unfurling behind the arc.

The ball rocketed into the air, it disappearing from all of their views as Bakugou grinned, panting slightly. 

They all turned to Aizawa as he showed his phone to the class.

“702.5?!” Some exclaimed, Bakugou summoning an arrogant grin to his face as he sauntered back to the group.

“Woah, his quirk’s powerful,” Uraraka mumbled. “Imagine being exposed to such firepower.” 

He could imagine it. He’d been subjected to a more restrained form for years, the faded firework scars on his shoulders and arms. 

“That looks kinda fun.”

“I know right!”

“You think this is a joke?” He flinched at Aizawa’s tone, it reminding him of Inko when she was mad. “You don’t have the time to play games here.” Silence rang throughout the P.E grounds. “Something I didn’t mention-” his heartbeat sped up “-whoever comes last will be expelled from UA.” 

His heart skipped a beat.

He remembered when All Might mentioned how Aizawa had expelled a whole class when they’d given disappointing results.

Their home room teacher was ridiculously frightening.

“If you don’t have the potential to become a hero, there’s no point in keeping you here.” He couldn’t be useless. Not again. 

Mood more sombre than before, students threw the ball as far as they could, the lowest distance being 50 metres and the highest being infinity. 

“Well done Uraraka,” he congratulated her quietly when she returned. 

“Thanks Midoriya. How well do you think you’ll do?” She asked, wringing her hands as they watched a student called Koda throw the ball. 

“I think I’ll do okay. I did something similar to this when I was clearing the beach, but I was aiming for the trash pile instead.”

“Wait a minute, you cleared that beach?” Oh, he hadn’t mentioned that to anyone...oops? 

“I’ll explain that later,” he said after realising it was his turn. 

He forced himself to ignore the eyes staring at him, his stomach churning as Aizawa dropped the ball in his hand. 

He could do this and not make a fool out of himself. He wasn’t going to be the laughing stock and he dropped from the course. He wasn’t, he wasn’t, he wasn’t-

“You can throw it now.” 

Taking in a deep breath, he focused and channelled One For All to his hand, not wanting to make a mistake similar to the entrance exam and fracture his arm. 

A prickly feeling ran through his arm and he felt his blood heat up, swinging his arm back and releasing the pressure. 

The ball shot through the air like a bullet, dust swirling around him. 

He glanced to where Aizawa stood. 

He showed his phone screen a few seconds later. 

“705.3.” 

He held back a sigh of relief, giving a shy smile at the exclamations from fellow classmates. 

“Woah, well done Midoriya!” Uraraka grinned when he stood next to her, them watching Iida take his turn. 

“I didn’t think it’d go that far,” he said quietly, not meeting the stares of those around him. 

He came out of that unscathed, the only thing signalling it was too much for his body an ache all of his arm. He’d work on control later.

“You should have more confidence in yourself! You punched a robot in the entrance exam, you should’ve known you’d ace something like that.” Uraraka tilted her head inquisitively. “What were your parents quirks- or is that too personal? Gah, I’m sorry if it’s too personal-”

“It isn’t, don’t worry. My father...I’m not sure, I haven’t seen him in a while, and my mother has a weak telekinesis quirk.” 

“So maybe you received a powerful quirk from your father?” 

“Maybe.” 

She didn’t need to know his whole family situation, but he could let her believe that for now.

He did above average when doing the other tests, coming 10th or 11th in most of them. He’d probably be in the average area of the class, but considering he’d only had a quirk for under a year, he was doing pretty well.   
_____________________________________________

It turned out that Aizawa’s statement of expelling the lowest ranking person was a logical rouse, Yaoyorozu pointing out how obvious it was after Aizawa gave his scary grin. 

Looking back at it, the rouse made sense. It would push everyone to do their best and gain the best results.

Wandering down the path that lead out of the campus, he watched the breeze rustle the leaves as sunlight filtered through. He felt safe.

“Hey Midoriya!” He turned on his heel to see Uraraka and Iida a few metres away, stopping to let them catch up. “Are you taking the train?” 

“Yeah, are you?” He replied. 

“Both of us do,” she nodded towards Iida. “Do you mind if we walk with you?” 

“Uh, yeah, it’s fine.” 

His brain struggled to process that people wanted to talk to him, wanted to walk with him and just be around him. It was strange after so many years of being shunted aside. 

Walking into the train station and swiping their cards, they found some space on a carriage and sat down, Iida leading the conversation until something clicked in Izuku’s head. 

“Wait...isn’t your brother Ingenium?” He asked, Iida’s eyebrows raising.

“Yes, he is. How come you picked it up so quickly?” Iida asked as the train rattled on through the city. 

“I found out about him when I was analysing Rescue Heroes and comparing his style to another hero’s.”

“What did you find on him?” 

“He fights alongside other heroes mostly, so I suppose he values teamwork a lot.” 

“That he does.” Iida smiled. “I admire him a lot, I hope to work alongside him one day.” 

“So you’d work with him on an internship?” Uraraka asked, hugging her bag as she watched them converse. 

“Definitely-” 

Iida’s station was announced.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he bowed slightly before leaving, allowing an elderly lady to go before him as he walked down the aisle. 

“So, Midoriya,” he looked at Uraraka, the sun making her skin glow as the train passed through the housing area of the city. “The beach?” 

He looked at her blankly before remembering their conversation from earlier. 

“Oh, r-right, uh, where should I start?” He mumbled. “So you know how people always dumped their trash and stuff at Takoba beach?” She nodded. “I thought it’d be good to use it as strength training, ‘cause people left all kind of things like fridges!” 

“Wow, really?” He nodded. “Why would you leave a fridge at a beach though? There are places to leave them so people can melt the metal to be reused.”

“That’s what I thought, but I decided clearing it would help with my training and it worked!” 

“But isn’t using your quirk to throw things illegal? Well, using your quirk in public without a license.” 

He felt his face heat up. “Well...no one was there?” He laughed weakly. 

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell,” she giggled.

Their conversation moved onto how else they trained for the entrance exam until Uraraka’s stop was announced, her waving goodbye as the train left. 

His stop wasn’t too far, only a couple of stops away from Uraraka’s, but guilt stabbed at his heart.   
He had to lie to his ‘friends’, otherwise All Might’s secret would be revealed and he couldn’t be the cause of that. 

He imagined telling them, then them telling others until the fact that All Might’s quirk could be transferred, it reaching the press and going international...

He shivered at the thought. 

He could keep secrets, he’d done it for his whole life, so what was one more?   
_____________________________________________ 

Quietly shutting the door behind him, he called out he was in the apartment. He knew Inko wouldn’t be back until later, but it never hurt to check. 

He flicked on the lights as he ambled to his room, tossing his bag on the bed and starting his normal after school routine.

He showered and then studied until 6, where he’d have to pray Inko wouldn’t arrive home early so he could eat whatever leftovers were in the fridge, then go back to his room and do what he needed to from there. 

Tonight’s to-do task was to analyse whichever hero fight he’d been sent by his employer. He sifted through his emails until he found the file, clicking on the given link to see a video Kamui Woods come up. 

He scrunched his nose at the hero, the memory of being scolded coming back to him. Kamui Woods wasn’t seen in the pure light Izuku once had him under. Perhaps that would come true with a lot of heroes.

He dug around his desk drawer until he found a tangled pair of earphones, plugging them into his computer and taking notes of his initial thoughts. 

He didn’t tense at the shudder that went through the apartment when the door slammed shut, nor did his heartbeat increase rapidly when someone stomped down the corridor. 

He didn’t pause the video and listen out for signs of someone stopping by his room. 

He certainly didn’t feel as if his heart was in his mouth when pots were slammed down on kitchen surfaces or when a female voice yelled at what he guessed was a person over the phone. 

He didn’t feel wary for the rest of the night when the yelling stopped and the thuds in the paper-thin wall began. 

He didn’t want to lock his door for the rest of the night and curl into a ball, didn’t feel tempted to sleep the night away and go back to UA. 

He didn’t feel any of that. 

(Of course he did, he felt all of it.)


End file.
